Blue beats Red 24-14 in FCA All-Star Game
I’ll get to the recap in a moment, but just wanted to say again how awesome it is to be a small part of the Big Country Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
I wrote stories for football and volleyball for the FCA again this year and my family served as host home for the second time this year. We were blessed to welcome three outstanding young men into the Coil fam for the week: Early Longhorn and Team Red teammates Jeremy Brown, Jaxyn Price and Chris Fernandez.
Please consider being an FCA host home next year if you can!
2023 FCA ALL-STAR FOOTBALL RECAP
ABILENE, Texas -- Team Blue overcame a double-digit second half deficit to defeat Team Red 24-14 in the 24th annual Myrle Greathouse Big Country All-Star Classic Saturday evening at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.
“This weekend was about so much more than wins and losses or intensity or competition,” said victorious Blue head coach Wes Wood from Snyder. “This weekend was about God and I’m just blessed to be here and be a part of it.”
Red scored on a KJ Long to Topher Foster three-yard touchdown pass to the corner of the end zone to go up 14-3 with 8:13 left in the third, but it was all Blue from there.
Tyler Hill (San Angelo Central) took command on the air and on the ground, leading Blue on a trio of touchdown drives to turn their 11-point deficit into a ten-point win.
“The second half was so much better than the first half,” Hill said. “We had stuff we needed to fix and we went in the locker room and went over it a little bit and we just executed a lot better in the second half.”
D’Andre Ralston (Cooper) scored from 12-yards out to pull Blue within 14-10, then after a Chris Garcia (Munday) interception Hill scored two plays later on an eight-yard quarterback keeper to put Blue up for good at 17-14.
Hill added a one-yard touchdown run with just under nine minutes to go in the game to put it away for Team Blue. He was named the Gordon Wood Offensive MVP of the Game, completing 13-17 passes for 82 yards and adding 114 yards and the two touchdowns rushing.
“I feel good about it,” Hill said. “The FCA is such a great organization and to receive an award like this means so much to me and there’s a bigger meaning to it. It just hits my heart a little different and means a lot.”
Defense ruled the first half for the most part, as the teams combined for just ten points.
The Blue defense came up with a big stop on the first drive of the game as Landon Null picked off his old teammate Long in Blue territory. They were able to turn the turnover into points on a 36-yard field goal by Chase Miller (San Angelo Central) and team Blue led 3-0 after one quarter of play.
One of the highlights of the first half came on special teams, as Red's jack-of-all-trades Kason O'Shields (Hawley) boomed a 70-yard punt that died at the two-yard line.
Red finally got on the board near the end of the half when Long scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper on 4th and goal. Red got into scoring position thanks to a couple long runs by running back Austin Cumpton (Hawley). Cumpton led Red with 54 yards rushing on nine attempts.
Red led 7-3 at the half, and they would add to their lead thanks to the defense. Defensive tackle James Burney (San Angelo Central) forced and recovered a fumble on the second play of the half and Long and company cashed in shortly after on his touchdown toss to Foster.
“I thought our kids did a great job of competing,” said Red head coach Jake Escobar from Comanche. “They did everything we asked them. I want to win, there’s no doubt about it but I think there’s joy in the bigger things in life and I’ve learned that this week as a coach. We talked about all week to understand why we’re playing this game: for relationships, bringing each other together, fellowship and our kids did that. Our kids competed and that’s all I can ask of them.”
Will Scott (Hawley) of Team Red recorded three tackles and was named the Gordon Wood Defensive MVP of the game. “Definitely surprising, a good surprise of course. It’s always an honor to get an award like this with great players all around me,” Scott said.
Blue’s Noah Hatcher (Abilene High) was the top tackler in the game with nine. His teammates Hunter Goodwin (Mason), Luke Tucker (Santo) and Noel Mekogue (Sweetwater) each recorded five tackles. Goodwin had the only sack of the game.
Kason O’Shields (Hawley) paced Red with seven tackles. Jayson Henley (Abilene High) added six and London Fuentes (Albany) racked up four tackles and an interception.
Blue outgained Red 286 to 149 in a relatively tame game as far as offense goes. Blue picked up 168 yards on the ground and 118 passing, while Red went for 92 rushing and 53 through the air.
Long went 4-6 passing for 28 yards with a touchdown and an interception and ran nine times for ten yards and a score. Jeremy Brown (Early) was the Red teams top receiver with two grabs for 28 yards. Jacob Gallegos (San Angelo Central) paced Blue with four catches for 41 yards, while Ralston caught three passes for 34 yards and ran for 39 yards and a touchdown.
Both teams wanted to earn victory, but the big takeaway was the week of fellowship and growing in Christ.
Escobar said, “I can’t put it into words but kids were praying for each other and kids were praying for me. It’s bonds and relationships they’ll probably never have again, relationships that’ll last forever. In three days I saw a lot of kids build a bond and fight for their goals and try to win. It’s bigger than the ballgame. We have a platform here and make sure we use it for the right thing. That was the message we tried to give them to understand.”
Wood added, “I was convicted, over and over. I saw kids convicted over and over. I opened up about things that I never thought I would have because of the men that I was surrounded by. This weekend was actually more powerful than I can explain in words.”
“These kids are great and love the Lord,” said Hill. “They’re just allowing people to come into their lives and it’s an awesome thing to see.”
Scott said, “I met a lot of new friends, great people. I’ll be going to college with some of them at Texas Tech. Getting closer with Christ and getting to play for Christ, you really don’t think about it a lot whenever something like this isn’t going on. It’s just incredible.”
2023 FCA ALL-STAR VOLLEYBALL RECAP
South Sweeps Past North in FCA All-Star Volleyball Match
ABILENE, Texas – The South squad swept past the North 25-21 and 25-16 in the Big Country FCA All-Star Festival volleyball match at Wylie’s Bulldog Dog gym Saturday.
The North took the two exhibition sets 26-24 and 25-16, but the South turned things around when it really counted.
Kamryn Williams (Wall), who was named the Bev Ball FCA Volleyball MVP, said energy was the key component to the turnaround. “We had a long talk, everyone in the huddle was chiming in. Our coach switched up the rotation and it just worked out. We picked up the energy, which was what we needed the most.”
The teams went back and forth in the first set, with the North (wearing blue) holding big leads of 14-9 and 15-10 before the South (wearing red) rallied. Down 19-15, the South went on a 10-2 run to close out the victory. Ella Burns (San Angelo Central) ended the set with back-to-back service aces to help the South squad win.
The South side never trailed in the second set, jumping out to an early 5-1 lead and holding on the rest of the way. The North got as close as 12-11 but the South pulled away thanks in part to the hard hitting of Williams, who led all players with 11 kills in the match. “She was one of the ones in the first two sets that was off,” said Ali Smith (Brownwood), one of the South coaches. “She got a little bit frustrated and was just like things just aren’t working for me and the other teammates stepped up behind her. We had some really good defense that allowed our setters to feed the ball to her and get her in system and get her going. Once we hit that point it was game on.”
Williams was thrilled to earn the MVP award for the match. “It means a lot to me. It was really fun being here and honestly everyone on the team deserves it. It feels really good.”
Shawntiel Watson (San Angelo Central) and Mattie Tibbets (Cooper) each added three kills for the South. Williams and Kat Williams (Wylie) topped the team with three aces each, while Burns had her two and Brylee Pursley (Wylie) added one. Tibbets topped the South with three blocks and Williams had one.
Jadyn Hernandez (Abilene High) led the North attack with six kills and a pair of blocks. Payton Phillips (Clyde) notched five and Ryleigh Lawson (Abilene High) added one. Chloe Ukle (Clyde), Trinity McGee (Sweetwater) and Madilyn Loper (Dublin) served up aces for the North.
Phillips earned the FCA Spirit Award winner for the week.
The time spent in Abilene ended with the match, but was about so much more during the week.
Williams said, “It was amazing. Everyone, all the staff, the devotionals, practice, coaches, my teammates, everyone here was amazing and I loved every second of it.”
Smith added, “It’s been tiring but a really good, just mind-blowing week for the girls and for us as coaches. I know the staff for FCA has worked so hard putting this together for us and we couldn’t be more thankful for them. It’s been a lot of fun and it’s been just great to see everybody come together. The North team and the South team we all got really close as coaches, as teammates and it was just fun to see that community grow and get together.”
The South has now won the last two FCA volleyball matches and holds the all-time edge 6-5.
